Objective
The success of humans depends on their ability to cooperate. Cooperation requires learning to avoid actions that harm others and select those that balance benefits for self and others. Reinforcement leaning captures how individuals learn to optimize benefits for themselves, by associating actions and outcomes for the self. The social context requires to incorporate outcomes for others into that equation by transforming them into the currency used to value our own outcomes. Research on empathy, by suggesting that we transform the emotions of others into neural representation of how we would feel in their stead, provides testable mechanistic hypotheses of how we do that. The painful facial expression of our friend after we kick him would be transformed into the pain we would feel when kicked, associating kicking with negative value, thereby motivating us to stop kicking. Testing this hypothesis would require altering brain activity in the anterior insula and cingulate involved in this process, and showing that these changes alter decision making. Because current tools in humans cannot selectively modulate activity in these deeper regions we however remain frustratingly powerless to do so. Here we will develop a brand new method using ultrasounds to modulate brain activity at any depth to brake down this barrier. Using fmri, we will measure vicarious activity and compare it with computational models. This will push our understanding of our social nature to a new computational level, and pave the way to a more causal understanding of prosociality that can inform successful interventions for so far untreatable antisocial disorders. More generally deep brain stimulation via US, and the understanding of how US modulate brain activity, will unleash affective neuroscience to noninvasively explore what had remained beyond our reach: the causal relationship between deeper (limbic) structures and behavior and cognition.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology
- natural sciences physical sciences acoustics ultrasound
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2017-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1011 JV AMSTERDAM
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.